The History of Coffee

The history of coffee dates back to centuries of old oral tradition in Africa. Coffee plants grew wild in Ethiopia and were widely used by nomadic tribes for thousands of years. Roasting the seeds was not a way to serve coffee until the 1400s. Brewed coffee was reserved exclusively for the priesthood and the medical profession.

Coffee later spread to Europe in the early 16th century; then arrived in Italy in the second half of the 16th century through commercial Mediterranean trade routes, only being served to the wealthy. Central and Eastern Europeans learned of coffee from the Ottomans. By the mid-17th century, it had reached India and the East Indies.

Coffee houses would establish themselves in Western Europe by the late 17th century, especially in England and Germany. In many cultures, it was a sign of wealth and power. One of the earliest cultivations of coffee in the New World was when coffee seedlings reached Martinique in 1720. These beans later sprouted 18,680 coffee trees which enabled its spread to other Caribbean islands and also to Mexico. By 1788, Saint-Domingue supplied half the world's coffee.

By 1852, globally, Brazil became the largest producer of coffee and has held that status ever since. The period since 1950 saw the widening of the playing field due to the emergence of several other major producers, notably Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Vietnam; the latter overtook Colombia and became the second-largest producer in 1999. Modern production techniques along with the mass productization of coffee has made it a household item today.

The Four Types of Coffee Beans